I’ve been trying very hard to remember the exact year date that I started to ride my own bicycle. No, its not the time when I rode my first three-wheeler as a toddler, it’s that exact time that I had my first road bicycle. But I can’t, and it’s not a major problem as far as I’m concerned.
But what I do remember is that I went to ASP Cyclehaus after one payday and have myself fitted with my first custom frame. Well, not every newbie gets to have custom-made frame but that was the usual way of getting a frame back then. I would have to hazard a guess– late ‘87 or early ‘88, the year Pedro Delgado won his first and only Tour de France.
That’s almost three decades of riding and racing bicycles and I have nothing but great memories about it. I met a lot of great friends who in some ways changed the way I see things, things that would have been different if I had not taken to the idea that cycling wasn’t just good for my health but also good for lifetime of friendships. Of course, I also met my share of unsavory characters along the way, which fortunately, were a few and forgettable.
Since then, the longest time I’ve been off my bicycle was about 8 years ago when a medical issue forced me offmy ride for about a year. But it didn’t diminish my desire to get back on the road. In fact, the desire to get back to riding was my motivation when one doctor told me that the only way I could ride a bicycle was to position my feet above my body when I ride. Well, how can you do that? Every time I see that doctor or read his name on the papers, I smile.
I passed the half-century mark early this year but I never really felt that I have slowed down one bit although I know that on a cellular level, I know I’m not what I used to be. Should I stop riding? No way! In fact, I’d like to learn how to play the saxophone and the bongo one day, climb the majestic cols of France and Italy like Marco Pantani or fly over the cobblestones of Roubaix like Fabian Cancellara. I want to do things people say I can’t.
The last months of a year can sometimes be dreary and fog up the compass of the senses, but the New Year gives us a new direction, a new sense of being thankful of the past and the excited anticipation of the next year.The almost dead batteries are fully recharged, the direction is being steadied and we’re now ready to ride. Again.
Can’t wait for 2015!